Composer: Astor Piazzolla
Performer: Eduard Kutrowatz, Johannes Kutrowatz, Anton Mühlhofer
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Organum
Release: 2020
Size: 1.23 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas
01. I. Primavera Portena (Fruhling Spring)
02. II. Verano Porteno (Sommer Summer)
03. III. Otono Porteno (Herbst Autumn)
04. IV. Invierno Porteno (Winter)
05. Decarisimo
06. Escualo
07. Milonga del Angel
08. Libertango
09. Michelangelo ’70
10. Buenos Aires Hora Cero
11. Adios Nonino
12. Oblivion
13. Le Grand Tango
Recorded from 21-23 January 2008 at Franz Liszt-Konzertsaal Raiding, Österreich
Produced by Klaus Faika
“I am a tango man, but my music makes people think. Those who love the tango, and those who like good music.” Astor Piazzolla
Piazzolla was a perfectionist who was never satisfied. Loved by his colleagues and dreaded for his uncompromising attitude whilst performing. A master of the 20th century who succeeded in giving a universal touch to a style bound to a place and a specific way of life. Piazzola’s tango nuevo is fully composed. However, it does not set limits to instrumentations and allows individual orchestrations – the performer can tap the full potential of his instrumental possibilities.
Many musicians succumbed to the richness and emotional range of his music. “Astor’s music enables me to express a wide range of emotions in a very artistic and, at the same time, very simple manner. Piazzolla was courageous, honest and uncomplicated. He did not suppress his emotions, a fact that tends to cause the contempt of intellectual snobs”, says Gidon Kremer, who has been connected to Piazzolla’s work through long lasting love. He was also the first to infect the Kutrowatz duo with this love for Piazzolla. May they be called Kremer, Emmanuel Ax, Daniel Barenboim, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yo-Yo Ma or Kronos Quartet – they all know: Astor Piazzolla’s music does not sully the hands of a classical musician. On the contrary: it enriches and challenges.
The soulful, sensitive interpretations of the Kutrowatz duo – arranged by Japanese pianist and composer Kyoko Yamamoto and accompanied with feeling by percussionist Anton Mühlhofer – make up for an authentic dialogue with Astor in the recording at hand. An examination of vital significance, which is both serious and calm. For it is always a tightrope walk to find the right balance between an intonation full of nuances and a free flowing play within the required tango rubato: In tempi which are either hasty and pushy or tremendously slow, with sudden breaks, that seem as if the heart suddenly stops – they stand for the corte in danced tango, the pauses of the couple in between the step sequences. May the wondrous journey to a multilayered world of emotions and authentic tango feeling begin.
“The delicacy of their interpretation cannot be praised highly enough” … “Brilliant playing by two exceptional brothers” … “Between meditation and ecstasy” … “A fiery torrent from two pianos” … „Pure musicality, coupled with temperament and intelligence“ … „When they play together, they seem to blend into one” … “A piano duo of superlatives!” – a selection from international press reviews.